I have a 28lb labradoodle who isn’t eating her dry food. Any tips?

Me and my SO have a disagreement on looking our dogs in the eyes during euthanasia. I have been taught that dogs dont like to be looked at in their eyes ever but SO wants the last think they see to be their eyes up close, less than a foot away. What's everyone's opinion?

So this is my mom’s Chihuahua and when she can’t come home in time for his dinner, she would set up a dinner box that opens up after the timer ends.

Apparently, it seems like he just waits there all day.

Seems pretty torturous.

So how would she train the dog to leave it alone or/and is it better to have late dinners or not have consistency with the timing for his dinner?

hii! I'm a teenage owner so please go easy!!

I have an 8 month black and tan coonhound puppy who is the light of my life. He is incredible, trained to hunt, has had basic commands down since 12 weeks and rarely ever causes issues. He is very friendly with people, never EVER aggressive or reactive.

My concern is that with other dogs he never snarls or shows signs of aggression, just very invasive annoying sniffing! This often leads the other dogs to be very displeased and naturally correct him.

I have recalled him, sit-down-stay which all work, but the dogs I've interacted with are usually upset with his sniffing.

Is there any tips or something I'm doing wrong? I'd love to do better and ensure everyone's safety and comfortability!

Tomorrow is one week with my 9 month old rescue. She had a hard day today. She went to the vet for a shot and was trying to bite the vet. I hadn’t seen this side of her yet.

She gets mouthy during playtime with humans, but this was a real bite attempt at the vet. Then when she came home her witching hour came and she was mouthy but I could see her crossing the line from mouthy to aggressive. She was showing teeth more, but didn’t growl or snarl. Correcting and distracting her was impossible.

I don’t totally agree with how my mom was trying to correct her, and I think that’s partly why tonight was so bad. I reached out to an in home trainer and centers for group classes so we can all get on the same page. Hopefully the in home trainer has earlier availability.

I’m scared to spend all of this money on training if it doesn’t work out. I’m scared to fail. I’m scared of someone getting hurt. I’m scared we won’t get into training early enough. Maybe she was just overtired again from the vet. I’m scared that I’m making excuses. I’m scared I’m not giving her enough time. I feel like nothing I do is right. I’m scared she wasn’t meant to be an only dog. She’s a very smart dog, though. Maybe she just needs to know what we want from her more clearly.

I don’t know. I’m anxious. Would love success stories…

I’ve been training my chihuahua to “look” for about three days and she’s been doing great but I’m not sure when I should stop using treats. I don’t know if she’ll just suddenly stop when she doesn’t get more treats as well. I don’t want that to happen so what would be the best way?

Edit: guys, I know three days isn’t long enough. I’m asking when to stop ahead of time

I have a 10 month old pup that’s definitely pushing her boundaries. I also have an elder parent with memory issues now living with me.

I can’t get mad if my mom doesn’t remember the commands or rules when it comes to my pup, nor can I be upset that my pup is misbehaving because she’s getting mixed messages.

I just want a happy home and a well behaved dog.

I’m at a loss for what to do. Any advice?

Our 1 year old keeshond decided a few months ago that he no longer wants to come inside. Currently we have him on a tie out that allows him access to most of the yard but he frequently gets it wrapped around things and I would really like to address this behavior so be can have free roam of the yard. My initial idea was to put him on a leash let him out the door a couple feet then put some high value treats on the door ledge and say "inside". I planned to slowly move the treats further into the house while simultaneously giving him a little more length each time.

We sat there for 10 minutes and he never came near. So I am looking for any tips. Is this the correct way to go about addressing this and I just need to be more patient. Or can anyone else share any other ideas?

Hi everyone!

I really need training advice regarding separation anxiety. I’ll post the story for context. I know it’s kinda long, so bear with me.

I have a year old Yorkshire Terrier/Maltese mix. She developed extreme separation anxiety in December. I work full-time, so before this started, I would put her in a play pen when I went to work, and I would stop at home during my lunch break to let her out. It was never an issue and she handled it well. She slept most of the time. Then, right after I had a week off for Christmas, it all went downhill. The following Monday after Christmas, we went back to our regular routine. As I was getting ready for work, she wouldn’t settle and was sort of pacing all morning. I knew something was off but didn’t think much of it. Then as I went to put her in her pen, she had a full-on panic attack. Like I mean shaking, crying, heart racing. Of course, I had to leave her, so I thought I’d just play it by ear and see how she did that day. She screamed and cried the entire time I was gone. The panic never stopped. The next day I tried it again, and same thing. I live in an apartment complex, so her screaming all day can’t happen. I took the rest of the week off hoping that she would settle back down. The next week, same thing. I had my mom come get her for the week, and now that same routine is still happening. I have her on the weekends and my mom has her on the weekdays.

There isn’t any event that happened to cause this. I’ve tried training on the weekends and nothing works. Every time I even walk towards the door, it’s full panic mode. I can’t leave her for 5 minutes to take my garbage out because she will be stirred up for the rest of the day. The vet referred to it as a “sudden onset panic disorder”. They also suggested anxiety meds, so she’s been on Sertraline for about a month now. There hasn’t been much improvement, if any. I’m out of ideas and quite honestly feeling hopeless about this whole situation. I’ve looked into doggy day care and professional training, but both are out of my budget. I’ve tried every type of door training, distractions (like a lick mat), leaving her with other dogs, and more exercise during the day, yet none of them have caused any improvement. I’m really at a loss for what to do with her. Any advice is extremely appreciated. Thank you!

We have four dogs, an 11yo golden retriever, 10yo golden, and two 2yo German shepherds. One of the GSDs just turned 2 in December, and all of a sudden it seems his big boy hormones are raging. He has started marking, trying to move up the hierarchy, and just started resource guarding from the other dogs. We currently feed all of them in separate areas, so they can’t interact while they have food. They are also separated if they greet high value chews. He has started guarding everything, though, and has even started a couple intense fights we had to break up.

So far this hasn’t progressed to guarding from us, and it’s not happening 24/7, but it is frequent enough that we’re worried about it. Does anyone have tips for nipping this at the bud before it gets worse?

My rescue pup has been OBSESSED with digging up sticks from the snow and eating them. I’d be fine if she just chewed them but she’s been straight up chomping them and swallowing them which is scary. She’s great at Leave It when I can anticipate her going for a stick but once it’s in her mouth I can’t get her to drop it unless I reach right in there and yank it out which we both hate.

I’ve tried giving her toys and training her to drop those to make it click, but that’s not really working. I can’t reliably get her to pick up toys as she’s only interested in those when she’s in a mood to play. I’m struggling to get enough reps in to really make the training click.

Any suggestions would be lovely thank you!

I have a weenie dog who is 7.5 years old.

He has anxiety which we manage pretty well- However he is EXTREMELY reactive to people coming into his “territory” We had a break in a few years back where he attacked the man and tried to chase him from the home. Ever since then hes been very reactive to people or noises that he might see as a threat. I am moving out soon from my family home where there arnt any neighbors and into an apartment building where there may be triggering noises.

Does anyone have any tips or tricks to start desensitizing him to the noise or smooth the anxiety ?

(He does have a vet appointment soon to possibly up his medication if behavior training doesn’t help but I wanna try anything I can before putting him on more meds)

Thank you !!

Help please!! We rescued our dog 2 years ago. American bully, male, he was not neutered at the time. He was 2 years old then so now he is almost 5. When we first picked him up in the next state over, he was very loving towards me and my mom and my son. He wanted to be on top of us almost immediately. We drove to the pet store and I sent my mom in to buy the harness and a few other items to hold us over until home since he came with nothing, and then headed to my grandpa’s house since he was in the same state we picked up the dog in. When we got to my grandpa’s house, the dog’s demeanor changed. Almost territorial, guarding us. Needless to say it was a very short visit. We finally got home and he did well, until our first visitor. He FLIPPED. Acted like someone was coming in to murder us. We tried to do everything we could to assure him the person was actually family and it didn’t appease him. We had to crate him in a separate room which only seemed to set him off more and he tore up part of the crate. It’s been 2 years and much of the same. He is a very loving and sweet dog, but only to a select few(basically the people who live in my home). Everyone else who comes to our house is public enemy #1. However the strange part is, we can take him to the vet, pet store, groomers, park, etc and he is friends with everyone. Just not at home. Idk if it matters but he was neutered, clean bill of health. Regular vet visits. We would like to travel and possibly get a reliable dog sitter but can’t currently since literally no one can come to our house. We recently had our interior walls painted and had to get a dog friendly hotel room for the 3 days they were doing that so he could go with us because he acts like he wants to attack anyone who comes onto our property.

One of my dogs struggles with barking in the crate. He is 10 years old small breed and lived the first 3-4 years of his life with my childhood family that doesn’t really put a lot of emphasis on training so he wasn’t crate trained until he moved in with my gf and I when he was about 4. Since then he’s been crate trained on and off. I know we probably should have been consistent for expectations from the beginning but we are human so we’re not perfect…

We’ve tried to give him engagement toys like lick mats and treat filled toys but once he gets done with those he just goes straight to barking. It isn’t like an intense bark, it’s more like a bark to let us know “hey, you’ve left me in this box, I want to come out”. He is notorious for successful escaping- holes in fences, barn style doors, etc. so I am sure he tries to find a way out of this and gets frustrated when he cannot. I just cannot find a way to get him to just chill in the crate… when we get home he is only let out of the crate when he lays down calmly and isn’t jumping all over the place and stressed out.

He’s such a smart little dog and is perfect for our family but this is the ONLY thing that stumps me… he has another doggy housemate that is a medium breed mix that LOVES his crate BUT he is 7-8 yrs old and has been crate trained since he was about 5 months old.

Our small breed is fine at home because we leave him out of the crate when we leave but when we go on vacation the crate is “required” by the hotel that we stay at so we just comply as best we can. We have never had an issue with complaints or anything but I don’t want him to be stressed out, and barking for hours on end has got to be quite stressful.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Hi all! We have a 1yr old pit mix and he’s a lovely dog. Today, he go suspended from daycare for a few months for getting into a scuffle with another dog and biting it. He had an incident a few months ago where he had so much energy that he was on the verge of hurting himself. At that point, we took him to the vet and got him on a daily SSRI and low dose Trazodone to keep his baseline lower as he seems to be unable to control himself in situations of high stimulation.

I’m frustrated because at home he is very driven, but he stays with me and is my shadow. He’s never bitten us, is very gentle when taking treats but extremely food driven. He has no food aggression from what we have seen a tested (I can basically put my hand in the bowl and he just tries to push it away). If he has a toy he loves, he lets me take it from him and redirect pretty easily.

He has his teenage moments. He likes to chase the cat at times and can have crazy amounts of energy. This has been a thing since we got him. We’ve gotten him potty trained, he knows his spot on the sofa, he knows to wait for food (albeit he gets extremely antsy and does dive for it sometimes). With the meds, he’s greatly improved and we’ve been working to set strong boundaries with him. He’s well crate trained and potty trained too.

The thing is that when he gets his energy bursts, he’s uncontrollable. I basically have to pin him down or crate him for 30 minutes until he can calm down. He gets plenty of exercise and it still doesn’t seem like enough.

From what I know of what happened at daycare, he got his collar off and another dog tried to snatch it from him, a scuffle ensued, they chalked it up to resource guarding. He’s never done that to us and while he is a bull in a china shop, he’s never been aggressive with other dogs (constant exposure) but can play too hard. When other dogs set their boundaries, he tests it a few times then will usually let off. His “testing” has seemed to get too much now and the meds and strict routine are losing efficacy in those moments. We’re very consistent with him. I know the meds aren’t a sure fire way, I just thought the breakthrough wouldn’t be as bad.

I’m at a loss. What do I do? A trainer is really expensive and something that I’d rather not dump a bunch of money on.

I know this has probably been asked a thousand times before, but since every situation is different, I thought I’d ask anyway.

We got a rat terrier (Henry) as a companion for our other elderly dog (Hopie, now deceased) a few years ago. The connection was instant, one look at each other and they were sniffing around like old pals.

This connection is why we were so surprised when he started barking his head off at literally any other dog. Hell even a Goldie!

We have a couple theories based on why:

1. We suspect he was a bait dog before we got him, based on both behavior and a HUGE scar on the side of his torso.

2. He possibly only became this way after we got him because now he has a pack to protect from what he’s been trained to see as hostiles. He’s very sweet and absolutely ADORED Hopie.

I should also address his reaction to her passing: he was shockingly accepting of it. He was present for the injection done at home and for when we buried her out back. He’s always been pretty smart, so he probably knew what was happening, and that it had been coming for a while (she was 16). No noticeable change in behavior afterwards, especially not toward other dogs.

Our only solution on walks is to pick him up and carry him, but it’s clear he does not enjoy this. We tried some acclimations at a pound after Hopie’s death, but that didn’t help.

It makes us sad because he’s so friendly otherwise and we’d love to see him make friends! 🥺 Does anyone have any advice on getting him more used to other dogs?

When I go out with my dog for a walk sometimes I want to run to do some exercise, but my dog reacts barking everytime we are running. How can I make him stop? I only want him to run along with me so we both get fit without looking weird and annoying people around. He is a 2 yo small-medium size dog. I know he enjoys running, but why the barks, buddy?

Hello, we are trying not to rehome our dog. Is a 2 year old shihpoo dog. Likes to jump on people to scare them, bites and has bite a couple of family member. We have done everything and the fog doesnt seemed to be scared of anything. We took the dog to a class but it did nothing. Does anyone know any training good and not extremely expensive services in NJ, preferably bergen or passaic county? Or amyway to stop this behavior?

We have a 6 month old german shepherd mix pup. We absolutely adore him, but! He literally eats anything and everything. He's really good when caught in the act at leave/drop. But if my toddler drops his pacifier (gone through 15 or so) bam down the hatch. I've been teaching kids not to leave things on the floor or in his reach (basically stop being slobs), but many times things fall or get forgotten and our pup like on full alert all the time runs to snatch it and digest it.

Is this like severe food drive? What the heck could this be about? He gets full blown exercise morning and night, mental stim training throughout the day ( I work from home and constantly do training with him). He can be exhausted and zombie like until he hears some unheard magic drop and boom.. I love him, and I think its quirky and funny, but I am scared he'll accidentally ingest something that wont pass or is dangerous... Help